


the lights that we fade in

by QueenOfChaos



Category: DCU (Comics), Green Lantern (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, But he does care, Hal is like 35? or something, I Tried, I'm Sorry, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, It's mentioned that Roy had a crush on Hal as a teenager, M/M, Roy is 21, Underage - Freeform, and his kinda subpar parenting, band au, but nothing happens until they're both adults, mentions of Oliver Queen - Freeform, really brief smut, tagging that just to be safe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:09:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26646553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenOfChaos/pseuds/QueenOfChaos
Summary: Ollie worriedly tells Hal that Roy's newest bad decision  was to drop out of College and start a band.Of course Hal has to check in on him.
Relationships: Roy Harper/Hal Jordan
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3
Collections: DCU Rarepair Exchange 2020





	the lights that we fade in

**Author's Note:**

  * For [caughtonfilm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/caughtonfilm/gifts).



> This was quite a challenge since I don't know much about their canon interactions (hence the AU) but I still had a bit of fun and I really hope you like it ❤

Hal can’t help but stare at Roy; the way his ginger hair gains a fiery glow in the bright lighting and the way the sweat makes his skin shiny and his red tank top clings to his chest, outlining the muscles there. His truly impressive biceps tensing as he hit the drums and long, dexterous fingers absentminded twirling the drum sticks whenever he has just a little break between songs. 

From this far away, and with the harsh stage lighting, Roy’s freckles are invisible, but Hal knows they’re there, covering Roy’s shoulder and painting little constellations on his face.

The same way Hal knows, without seeing it, that Roy is wearing his lucky charm necklace. 

Roy doesn’t look at the audience much; only giving them a sharp grin at the end of the song and otherwise ignoring them. Something that could easily be mistaken as arrogance, typical Rockstar ego and illusions of grandeur, but not for Hal, who recognizes the focused look on his face from countless Archery meets and Robotics competitions. 

And that’s what really fascinates Hal; the feeling of familiarity, of knowing Roy, contrasted with all the new things; he knew the boy he once was, he had yet to get to know the man he grew into. He couldn’t help but hope he was given a chance. 

Hal didn’t even know about Roy’s band until Ollie told him. 

They don’t look much like a band: while Kory, the lead singer, is jumping around in a purple, glimmering jumpsuit with green highlights- something that could only ever look good on her-, the guitarist, Jason, is prowling the stage in combat boots and a tight fitted, tan leather jacket. Meanwhile the Bassist, BIzarro, pretty much just stands around in an ill-fitting superman T-shirt and torn jeans. They don’t seem to match, neither in outfits nor in energy, and yet the Outlaws work together perfectly. 

The same can be said for their songs- they don’t seem to match, or have much in common with one another - except the undercurrent of angstyness- and yet they still fit. It was kind of amazing how well the band makes upbeat indie pop, rock, pop punk and even country mix together.

Hal’s not trying to be cynical, but he wonders how well that’s going to hold up once the first real album comes along. 

He doesn’t stick around to see the main act play, instead skipping out as soon as the Outlaws half hour opening set is done.

His plans of getting backstage easily are quickly shot when the security guard, a buff, burly dude in his thirties, just answers “So? You’re still not on the list.” After Hal tells him that he’s Roy’s uncle and needs to see him. 

“Yeah, that’s cause this is a surprise visit” Hal says in an annoyed tone, not letting his nervousness show. 

“Well, you should have cleared that with one of the other band members then.” The guard shrugs. “We have a strict policy against letting in people who aren’t on the list. Even if they’re related.”

Ditching the whole talking plan and finding an air vent to crawl through is beginning to look more and more appealing, since the dude doesn’t seem to be budging an inch. So does breaking the stupid clipboard with the oh-so important list. 

Hal doesn’t do any of those things, though. And he can’t quite bedrudge the man for doing his job, either. After all, there’s a good reason for it; Ollie and Roy still aren’t talking, and the spats between Kory and her supermodel big sister are so explosive they get mainstream media coverage. When Hal last spoke to Bruce he’d been super proud of how well Jason was doing in Dartmouth and bragging about it to anyone who’d listen, so he imagines those two are once again at outs. Hal doesn’t know Bizarro, but he hopes the bassist is an outlier and at least one person in that group gets along with their family. 

So, back to talking it is. It takes Hal a solid ten minutes to convince the security guard to call Jason. His visit isn’t meant to be a surprise, necessarily. More like an ambush. 

Which, sadly, the Wayne kids manage to smell from a mile away. Jason takes one look at him and immediately mutters: “Oh, did Ollie send you?” It doesn’t even sound much like a question, more like an annoyed statement. 

“Yeah, technically, but-” 

“Oh, sure, you’re genuinely just concerned” Hal wouldn’t have guessed Jason to be the type to wear makeup, but the thick eyeliner really is making his eyerolls much more pronounced. 

Hal doesn’t get the chance to explain that yes, Ollie did beg him to try and talk Roy out of the whole band thing, and Ollie did buy his ticket, but Hal pretty much gave up on that the second he actually saw Roy perform. Not that he had high hopes in the first place. Ollie’s whole plan was based on some very faulty assumptions. Or.. more of a lack of information, really. 

Ollie never realized that the reason Roy always listened better to his “Uncle Hal” than his Dad was the fact that the kid had a massive crush on him. Hal still doesn’t know how that escaped notice, considering Roy blushes incredibly easily and everyone else knew. 

It was a cute little puppy crush. Hal had plenty of those when he was a kid, on teachers and camp counsellors, and he very much still remembers those awkward teen years. So he never brought it up, except in a roundabout way, encouraging Roy to ask out kids at school, in his age group. And he only ever used his persuasion powers for harmless stuff.   
Like when Roy’s hesitation about joining the “awkward losers” in the school’s robotics club suddenly disappeared after Hal said he thought Robots are pretty cool and had a Transformers movie night with him.

It was all very adorable, and Hal had fun messing with the kid, always thinking Roy was going to outgrow his crush and they’d look back. And then suddenly the kid was 17- had gotten all grown and filled out over the course of one summer- and was still blushing when Hal caught him looking. And to his own shock and horror, Hal found himself looking at Roy, too. 

He coincidentally stopped going round Queen Manor when he knew Roy was there. But that was almost four years ago. There’s no way Roy still hasn’t grown out of a childhood crush, and an even lesser chance of Hal using that if it was still there. 

So Ollie’s idea of Hal persuading Roy to quit the band? Not happening. Hal does however share some of Ollie’s concern, and wants to talk to Roy about it. 

Jason does end up letting him in, after a hushed phone conversation. Normally, Hal would take this chance to make some dumb joke at the security guard, but something in Jason’s mood clearly shifted from annoyed to angry and he doesn’t want to push to much. Even so, Jason stops him before they reach Roy’s dressing room to give him a shovel talk. 

When he finally does come face to face with Roy, he’s breathtaken by the sight of him, shirtless and freshly showered, his hair pulled back in a little bun. 

Roy definitely sees Hal check him out, and smirks as he crosses his arms over his chest, flexing his biceps. “Hi, uncle Hal.” he says, “it’s been a while. I heard you really wanted to _talk_ to me”

Hal doesn’t quite know what to say to that at first, so he busies himself with looking around the room, anywhere other than Roy. 

The dressing room, while nice, doesn’t have any of the glamour or mystery the backstage area of a rock concert is awarded with. Except for the few bits of Roy’s stuff that’s strewn around, it mostly just looks...functional. Sterile, even, with cold light and just the faintest smell of disinfectant. Even the couch Roy’s sitting on; it looks comfortable, sure, but the plastic faux leather also seems designed to be easy to wipe down. 

Which is not a great train of thought. It doesn’t make him feel calmer, that’s for sure. He sits down beside Roy anyways. 

“Uh… yeah, talking, yes”, Hal eventually answers, “MIT is a great school. And the engineering program is also...great.”

“Wow, really? They should hire you for marketing, this is an amazing sales pitch.”

“I’m just saying, maybe you should get a degree first and not drop out to be a rockstar” If Hal listens closely enough, he can hear his teenage self screaming. He never thought he’d be encouraging people to live more boring lives. He didn’t think Ollie would ever be doing that, either. But this is different.

“And what? Deprive the world of my music? Didn’t you like my set?” Roy’s tone still has a teasing lilt to it, but Hal didn’t miss the way he stiffed up at the criticism at first. He shifts slightly, and the movement draws Hal’s attention to the freckles on his shoulders, the ones that weren’t there in the stage light. 

“You should adjust the lighting” Hal burst out without thinking. 

“Oh, really?” Roy laughs. 

“Yeah” Hal tries to laugh along to mask his embarrassment, “It didn’t really flatter you”

“Well, do I look better in here?” Roy asks. Hal just nods dimly. Of course, even the best lighting in the world couldn’t fix the fact that from that far away it’s impossible to see the sparkling green of Roy’s eyes, or how soft his lips look or…

“I think you look great, too” Roy says casually, like it’s a well known fact barely worth mentioning and Hal can feel himself blushing in response. When did the tables turn like that, leaving him feeling like a kid with their first crush. 

“Thanks” he mutters, trying to think of ways to get the conversation back on track. He doesn’t get a chance to do that before Roy surges forward to kiss him and his brain short circuits for a bit. 

He kisses back without thinking about- Roy’s lips feel so nice, why shouldn’t he?

Soon they’re exploring each other’s mouths with fervor, it’s only when Roy pulls Hal into his lap that he remembers what he came here for. He pulls away from the kiss, feeling a little dizzy.

“We should actually talk.” He says, but he can’t really concentrate on much more than the warm hand Roy had snuck under his T-shirt, caressing his hip, and the slight calluses he can feel there. 

“You know you don’t really want to.” Roy whispers. HIs other hand is knotted in Hal’s hair, slightly scratching his scalp. 

“Hmm.” Hal hums. “Later, though. Tomorrow.” When Roy nods, he surges forward again, although their kisses are slightly calmer now, less rushed.

Hal’s clothes still end up on the floor pretty quickly. 

They don’t have sex- neither has the patience nor the lube required to do that properly. Instead Roy takes them both in hand and gets them off in a few quick tugs.

__________________________________

They actually do talk, afterwards. 

“I didn’t really drop out. I just told Ollie that ‘cause I was mad, you know? And he already thinks I’m a fuck up anyway.” The bitterness in Roy’s tone sounds stale, a wound that’s been festering for too long. 

Still, that last part isn’t really true- and Hal wants to protest it- but he knows, sadly, that Roy wouldn’t believe him and it would just cause an argument. Instead, he asks about the logistics of that whole thing. 

“We just plan all live performances around school. Some classes can be taken online as well. Currently we’re mostly recording anyway. The whole tour thing is kind of an exception. The Amazons planned opening act cancelled and Kory’s close with Donna, so we jumped in.”

“Still, getting a degree and having a music career sounds really stressful”

“ Oh, it is”, Roy laughs “but you know Jason would never give up his dumb Literature degree, and I do really like MIT.”

“That’s great” College wasn’t the greatest concern, though. What had gotten Ollie freaking out, and the reason Hal came here, was the bigger worry; that Roy could relapse his drug addiction. After all, there were all kinds of stories about musicians -the entertainment industry at large, really- and drug use. Even if he was sober for years now, their biggest worry was that Roy would be exposed to too much of that kind of lifestyle and undo all of his progress. 

Roy sets those worries mostly to rest, though, talking of the counselling program he’s in and the support he gets from his friends, in calm, measured tones. If only he could talk to Ollie like that, they’d have a lot less fights. 

“But, you know, if you’re still worried about me, you could come along to the next couple shows…” Roy offers, suddenly bashful. 

“No”, Hal says. “I believe in you, it was dumb of me and Ollie to think we’d know better how you should live your life.”

“I will, however, show up to watch you perform.”

**Author's Note:**

> In case any of you are wondering, I see the Outlaws, as a band, experimenting with lots of different sounds.  
> Here are some of the songs I had in mind:  
> -Television romance by Pale Waves  
> -I will never die by Delta Ray (they do also have a song called outlaws, but this one is angsty witchcraft, which I thought fits well enough) This is the country song i was referencing in the story, but I'm not 100% sure it could really be classed as that  
> \- Ache with me by Against Me  
> -Literally anything by MCR but mostly the Killjoys album


End file.
